Up On the Altar
by Annie-chan
Summary: Followup to Lost and Found. Xemnas introduces Roxas to the Organization as their new Number XIII. Axel, though eager for a night with Demyx, finds himself strangely intrigued by the new arrival. Rated for some suggestive AxelDemyx talk.


**Author's Notes:** Okay, this story is a follow up to "Lost and Found". I don't call it a sequel, because both stories can be read independently, though it probably wouldn't hurt to read "Lost and Found" first. It's not required, but it's not a bad idea, either. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if you go to read "Lost and Found" before or after reading this.

Since I typed out my whole explanation of what I'm doing here in "Lost and Found", I'm only going to do an abbreviated version here. If you want the whole story, go read the author's notes of that fic. Suffice to say, I tried writing a multi-chapter AkuRoku fic a while ago, but it didn't work out and eventually ground to a halt. Instead of scrapping it entirely, I'm adapting certain scenes that I particularly like into one-shots. This is the second, "Lost and Found" being the first. There will be at least one more after this, as well. It will probably be finished and posted about two weeks after this one, if all goes according to plan.

Please note that I haven't played _Chain of Memories_ yet. As a result, I'm not entirely sure about the personalities of Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Marluxia, or Larxene. If they're out of character here, I apologize. I'm just going on what I know about them.

_Kingdom Hearts II_ and all related characters are property of Square-Enix and any other entities holding copyright. Please don't sue me. I have very little money.

**Up On the Altar  
**By Annie-chan

"Where's Axel?"

The simple, two-word question reached the redhead's ears as he started up the final staircase leading up to the Altar of Naught. He recognized Zexion's quiet voice. The Organization's sixth member seemed impatient for him to show up.

"He'll be here in a minute." That was Demyx. "It's not like Xemnas is here yet, anyway."

"Hmph." Zexion again. "I would rather not deal with the Superior's displeasure that not all of us are here in response to his summons when he _does_ show up." The youngest of the original six Organization members sounded irritable tonight.

Just then, Axel reached the top of the stairs, raising a hand in greeting to the others. "Yo."

"Speak of the Devil," Marluxia's lilting voice said as he spied the fire-master. There had always been a simmering animosity between him and Axel, and the redhead suspected that sooner or later it was going to come to a head. He wasn't exactly sure when this quiet rivalry had started, but he had a feeling it had something to do with the time Axel had set fire to Marluxia's favorite rosebush.

"Where've you been, Axel?" Demyx asked, coming forward to meet him.

"Oh, here and there," Axel replied, putting his arm around the musician's shoulders. "Decided to take the long way when I got Xemnas' summons."

"He would have been very displeased if he had arrived and you still weren't here," Vexen said, his tone underlined with a very slight hint of distain. He, too, disliked Axel, though it was more due to their opposing elements than any specific grievance between them.

"Yeah, I know," Axel shrugged as he and Demyx moved back toward the others. His arm dropped to wrap around Demyx's waist, slipping his gloved hand into the younger man's hip pocket. "How about you and me go off somewhere when we're through here?" he stage-whispered into Demyx's ear, the suggestion in his tone unmistakable. "It's been a little too long since we had some fun."

"Sure," Demyx replied, flashing the other man a quick grin.

Those around them were deliberately focusing their attention elsewhere, some with looks of irritation on their faces, while others had little to no visible reaction at all. Though sex between Organization members was neither a secret nor a forbidden practice, Axel and Demyx were very public with their affection for each other. Most of the others found this openness annoying, if not downright distasteful. It flew in the face of Xemnas' assertion that Nobodies were emotionless, and the possibility of his wrath over it had everyone on edge. Everyone, that is, except Axel and Demyx.

"Hey, Saïx, something wrong?" Axel asked, looking up at the yellow-eyed berserker, who was standing nearest to them. Saïx was perhaps the Organization member least tolerant of their public displays of affection, deeming such behavior to be idiotic and foolish. The two younger men, as a result, found baiting him to be highly amusing. Dangerous, but amusing.

Saïx looked over, his silvery-blue hair shining under the glow of the growing Kingdom Hearts. He looked annoyed. His eyes clearly warned against any further teasing tonight over his dislike for their habits. After staring at them—mainly Axel—for several seconds, he looked away again. He seemed content to ignore them for the rest of the night.

Axel and Demyx both grinned. They were neither chastened nor put out with Saïx's decision to pay no attention to them. They were looking forward more to spending some "quality time" with each other than anything else.

Directly under Kingdom Hearts, a familiar black portal opened. Their leader was finally making his appearance after summoning them all to this altar. Axel and Demyx separated as his tall, imposing form emerged from the blackness, and all of them stood just a little straighter as he came into view. To everyone's surprise, he was leading two much shorter people through the portal, their wrists held in his hands.

"What's this?" Xigbar asked as the portal closed, one eyebrow raised in inquiry. The second-in-command had never been informed that Xemnas would be bringing anyone back with him.

"Nobodies," Zexion said, staring intently at the two strangers. One was a terrified young girl who looked like she wanted nothing more than to pull out of Xemnas' grasp and disappear. She was blonde with startlingly blue eyes, a simple white dress adorning her slight frame.

Axel found his gaze drawn to the other one, however. He was a young boy, also blond with blue eyes, and his face and posture spoke of mental and physical exhaustion. He wore a ragged, dirty white outfit with no shoes on his feet. Though he, too, was frightened, he was trying to hide his fear under a mask of impassiveness. Axel suspected he would have been quite successful at it if he hadn't been so tired.

"Would one of them be our new Number XIII?" Larxene asked, her haughty eyes looking them over. The girl squeaked when she found herself being scrutinized by the cruel woman, and tried to hide behind Xemnas.

"Correct," Xemnas said, pushing the boy forward. Though he resisted, uncertain, the boy found himself several steps closer to the crowd of people staring boldly at him. A man with flaming red hair was right in front of him, looking down at him with curious green eyes. "Behold," their silver-haired leader proclaimed. "You look upon the Nobody of the Keybearer himself."

All eleven of them looked up in surprise, several of them with expressions of shock on their faces.

"But…" Xaldin said, speaking up first. "But…the Keybearer is still whole and active…isn't he?"

"I am not yet sure how this youth's existence is possible," Xemnas replied, "but nevertheless, he is here. I have named him Roxas."

"Roxas," Axel whispered, though he didn't know exactly why. He breathed the name too quietly for even Demyx to hear, his emerald eyes still trained on the boy.

"And the girl?" Saïx prompted, nodding toward the cowering figure, who was concealing as much of herself behind Xemnas' imposing frame as possible.

"This girl…" Xemnas replied slowly, looking back at his second charge. "I am not sure who or what she is. She is a Nobody, yet something is strange about her. I found her wandering around near the old mansion outside Twilight Town before finding Roxas, and confined her inside the estate's outer wall until after I had the boy and could come back for her. Roxas was my target, and I admit I was shocked to find her there, as well. I could barely sense her, even at close range, so it was a total surprise to me that I found a Nobody other than the one I had felt and was searching for."

Axel found himself nodding slightly, and saw that several of the others did as well. Even so close to her, the girl's presence was extremely hard to sense, no matter how hard he concentrated. It was like she was…transparent. No wonder Xemnas had been surprised to find her.

"Marluxia, Zexion," Xemnas was saying, "I want you to take the young lady back with you to Castle Oblivion. Put her in one of the White Rooms, and make sure she's comfortable. I will come by soon to see if I can figure out how she can be useful to us."

The two men came forward, taking the girl from the Superior. She still looked terrified, though she seemed to relax somewhat next to Marluxia and Zexion. Perhaps their less-intimidating statures felt friendlier to her somehow.

"Axel," Xemnas continued, pushing the newly-christened Roxas forward again, stopping him directly in front of the redhead.

"Yes?" Axel asked, looking up from the boy.

"I want you to help our newest member settle in," the Superior explained. "Put him in the previous Number XIII's room."

Axel blinked, a feeling of dismay washing over him. He glanced quickly at Demyx before looking back to Xemnas. "But…why me?"

"Because you are closest to him," Xemnas replied, giving him a do-as-you're-told smile. A black portal was opening up behind him, waiting to take him to an unknown destination, swallowing him up as he stepped backward and through. His departure signaled that the meeting was over, and the Organization members began to drift apart, heading toward wherever they needed or wanted to be. Zexion and Marluxia disappeared with the girl, bound for Castle Oblivion. Soon, it was only Axel, Demyx, and Roxas standing on the Altar of Naught.

Axel looked plaintively at Demyx.

"Don't worry, Axel" the musician placated. "I'll wait until you've finished getting the kid settled. But don't keep me waiting much longer than that. I can be patient for only so long, y'know."

Axel chuckled, watching as Demyx gave him a look of pretend-lovesickness before disappearing in the same way Xemnas had. He looked down at Roxas, the only other person on the Altar now. The boy stared back up at him. Again, Axel thought he saw loneliness and fear in the boy's eyes, though Roxas was fixing him with a steady glare. The boy obviously didn't trust him. But why should he? He had just been brought to a completely strange and unfamiliar world, and then left with a man he had never seen before in his life. Plenty of reason to be apprehensive.

"Well, c'mon," Axel said after several seconds of them staring at each other. "I'm supposed to take care of you for a little bit, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

**End**

**Author's Notes:** Not much to say about this fic. There isn't really anything to explain or clarify. All I meant it to be was a snapshot of Roxas' (and Namine's) introduction into the Organization, so that's all it is. I do realize that I didn't even mention Lexaeus and Luxord anywhere, though. Meh. They were there, even though I ignored them. Bad me.

So, do you guys think I did a good job here? Did I keep everyone in character? I know most characters only had one or two lines, so it's probably hard to tell. Just let me know what you guys think of this, 'kay? I really do appreciate feedback. Gimme all ya got. If you're gonna be negative, though, please be nice about it. Flames do nobody good.


End file.
